John Forte is Out

Our boy Forte just touchdown on the streets after Bush pardoned him a month ago:

Grammy winning producer and rapper John Forte was released today (December 22) after serving seven years in prison on a drug smuggling conviction. The rapper gained his freedom after singer Carly Simon, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch and others assisted in getting the rapper’s conviction commuted via a pardon from President George Bush. Forte learned of his sentence being overturned on November 24 by a fellow inmate who watched the news on CNN. The Brooklyn rapper began his promising career in 1996 by writing two songs on the Grammy-winning, nine-times platinum Fugees’ classic The Score. Now 33-years-old and with a new lease on life, Forte’s lawyer explains that the rapper/producer wants to deter young people from following the path that landed him a mandatory minimum sentence of 14 years in federal prison.“He wants to help young kids understand they have options and help deter them from making some of the mistakes he made,” Forte’s lawyer Aarti Tandon told The New York Post. Forte’s former college roommate and longtime friend Talib Kweli is set to celebrate the former Refugee All-Star’s release tonight at BB Kings in New York City.

Glad to see a brother loose. We are sure that with the street cred that his 7 yr bid brings, rappers who were not even out of diapers are knocking down his door to get him featured now. We hope he leaves that crook Wyclef alone. He can probably add some substance and a newer approach to the failings that go on now in hip-hop.